The information below is maintained and updated by your Local Council.
AFA-CWA Local Council 8 - Chicago Meeting
Date: TBD
Location: AFA-CWA MEC Office Conference Room
One O'Hare Center Suite 4020 Rosemont, IL 60018
(Free Parking in the Garage)
Agenda: Nomination and Election Process for Council 8 Elections
MEC Meeting Advanced Agenda Items
MEC Meeting
Local Issues
Updated January 2010
- Begin the Beginning... Our Day of Action - January 7, 2010
- Nomination and Election of AFA-CWA Local Council 8 Officers
- Charter Assignments - City of Chicago Olympic Bid Committee’s Charter
- How many Flight Attendant Jobs does it take to create "Cheap Chic"?
- Your crew meal is yours!
- Operational Irregularities
- Contractual Commuter/Emergency Policies
Begin the Beginning…
My Flying Partners -
Today was the day that we should have earned an industry leading contract. Unfortunately, negotiations have not produced this result. As you know, negotiations began last April, but United management has shown no interest in discussing improvements or reaching a new contract unless we agree to their concessionary demands. It’s becoming to familiar that management seems only interested in delaying a new contract, refusing to discuss any improvements.
In a show of strength of our solidarity, over 350 of our flying partners and supporters braved this blizzardy day, where some local newscasters considered it to be the “snowstorm of the decade” to protest United management’s arrogance and attitude towards us. In addition to over hundreds of our flying partners, we had special guests inspired to join us today such as AFA-CWA International Vice President, Veda Shook, our sisters and brothers from American, American Eagle, Continental, Delta, Southwest, and US Airways. We also had members from ALPA, APA, CWA, IAM, Teamsters, and many other organizations. We are very grateful for your continued support. We all walked the picket line and chanted "What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? NOW!"
Please visit www.unitedafa.org for more information and photos/videos from today’s events which included protests that took place in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, and Washington D.C.
This is just the beginning…
In Solidarity, T. J. Sesko, President
AFA-CWA Local Council 8 – Chicago
Nomination and Election of AFA-CWA Local Council 8 Officers
The following information is provided by Bob Kenia, AFA-CWA International Office Membership Department and Kevin Creighan, International AFA Secretary-Treasurer.
"In accordance with Article VII of the AFA Constitution and Bylaws (C&B), all Local Councils in Election Category III which includes Chicago Local Council 8, must nominate and elect officers the term beginning July 1, 2010 and ending June 30, 2013 (three year term).
Article VIII of the C & B and Union Voting Procedures (Section IX of the Policy Manual) shall govern nominations and elections. All nominations will be completed by secret ballot. Constitutionally, nomination ballots must be mailed no later than one hundred and fifty (150) days (2/1/10) before the start of the term of office. The nomination ballot for Chicago Local Council 8 will be mailed January 12, 2010. And ballots must be postmarked by February 2, 2010 with a count date of February 12, 2010.
All active Members with good addresses regardless of dues standing, as well as apprentice members who will be off probation on or before the count date will be mailed a ballot. Transmittal envelopes for Members in bad standing at the mail date are marked VERIFY STANDING ON COUNT DATE. If the Member has paid all delinquent dues prior to the count date, the ballot will be counted. Members must pay all outstanding dues in a separate envelope.
The nomination ballots should be returned to the International Office on or before the postmark date. The ballots will be tallied and certified at the International Office, under the supervision of the Ballot Certification Committee. It is necessary that each person wishing to be nominated and appear on the election ballot sign a Commitment-to-Serve Statement which will be included in the nomination mailing as a separate card to be sent back with the ballot.
All nominees who receive at least two (2) nominating votes and who have indicated their commitment to serve will be placed on the official Local Council election ballot. Election ballots will follow in an electronic manner beginning the first week of March 2010, to ensure completion of the election procedure before July 1, 2010." For more information,
please contact our Local Council 8 – Chicago office at (773) 601-5041 or by email: afaord@unitedafa.org
Charter Assignments – City of Chicago Olympic Bid Committee’s Charter
The City of Chicago Olympic Bid Committee’s charters associated with the 2016 Olympic Bid has drawn attention by many AFA Members in Chicago with respect to the Contractual assignment of these charter flights. Last year when we learned the company had successfully secured the contract for the NBC Olympic Charters to Beijing we reminded the company of the requirements of Section 9 of our Contract. We made it clear our expectation was the strict adherence to these Contractual provisions. We have a dispute!
In support of our grievance, we will need all information that pertains to the City of Chicago’s Olympic Bid Committee charter. Therefore, we need for AFA Members to provide any and all documentation relative to the charters. Please document all conversations with company personnel and provide us copies of any documentation such as charter IDs, FLTLOFs or lines of flying of people assigned to these charters. Documentation should be provided to our Local Council 8 – Chicago office either by email: afaord@unitedafa.org or by dropping a statement in the AFA Mailbox by the bulletin boards in the domicile.
How Many Flight Attendant Jobs does it take to create "Cheap Chic"?
Many of you have called or emailed our Local Council office asking about the meaning of a headline in last Friday’s Chicago Loop. The headline read, “How many Flight Attendant jobs does it take to create "Cheap Chic"? Well, since you had to ask, apparently, you didn’t read the enote sent out to all of the Chicago Flight Attendants on July 9 by the current domicile manager Anthony Nicastro. But then, why would you? After all, enotes are not required reading. If you missed Mr. Nicastro’s enote, or if you simply ignored it, Mr. Nicastro stated:
“YES, WE ARE WORKING ON IMPROVING THE ORDSW FACILITY. I GAVE DIRECTION TO THE ARCHITECT TO UTILIZE "CHEAP-CHIC" IN HIS PLANS. THE MAJOR INTENT IS TO ENLARGE THE LOBBY AREA AND MOVE ALL SUPERVISORS TOGETHER INTO CUBICLES IN ONE AREA. WHILE WE CAN'T DO ALL WE'D LIKE DUE TO COST, WE'LL DO OUR BEST TO MAKE THE SW ENVIRONMENT BRIGHTER AND EASIER TO NAVIGAE. [sic] THERE HAS BEEN NO SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN 24 YEARS.”
We find the timing of the “Cheap-Chic” improvements to be very ill planned. Not only are we in contract negotiations, but some of our most junior flying partners are facing the possibility of furlough. If you would rather “spare the paint and save the jobs”, drop by and let the current manger know. How many jobs could be saved? One, ten, twenty, thirty? How important is it to remodel a domicile that hasn’t needed “SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN 24YEARS”?
Your Crew Meal Is Yours!
We have received numerous calls and emails at the Local Council office regarding a commendation that was printed in the recent edition of “Purser Briefing Tips”.
Our members are questioning whether or not the article is suggesting that Flight Attendants should give their crew meals or its components to our hungry customers when the company fails to schedule a meal service on a flight, or when supplies are missing.
The answer is: Your Crew Meal Is Yours!
Our Contract provides for the boarding of crew meals.
For Domestic flights, Section 6.A.2. states, “Meals appropriate to the time of day will be boarded for Flight Attendants at Company expense whenever they are scheduled for a period of duty of eight (8) hours or more without an intervening stop of at least two (2) hours. Whenever possible such meals will be boarded during the first six (6) hours of this period of duty. Section 6.A.3. states, “On charter flights, the Company shall provide a meal for each Flight Attendant if a meal service is provided to the passengers.”
For International flights, Section 12.F.2.a. states, “If meals are boarded for passengers, crew meals shall be boarded on all segments originating or terminating in an international city which are scheduled for three (3) hours or more flight time.” Section 12.F.2.b. states, “On charter flights, the Company shall provide a meal for each Flight Attendant if a meal service is provided to the passengers.” Some people may be confused regarding the provisioning of entrees on international flights. On those flights, the crew meal entrees are boarded with and are included in the UF and UB meal counts. However, the setups are boarded for the crew and are yours.
Although some Flight Attendants have chosen to give all or a portion of their crew meal to a customer, you are NOT REQUIRED to do so, and you should not be questioned for not doing so.
Operational Irregularities
Our Contract, when used properly, allows the airline to respond to operational irregularities while ensuring certain pay and schedule protections for Flight Attendants. It's important to carry your Contract at all times and especially during periods of poor management planning or an operational irregularity keep it close at hand for your reference during a reassignment.
There are certain Contractual Sections that you should study closely under these circumstances. Lineholder Flight Attendants at their home domicile who will be pay protected through line guarantee in Section 8.J.Domestically or Section 12.I. Internationally, may be subject to a reassignment under the same Contract Section. There is an AFAct on our websitethat includes an educational explanation of this Contract language along with examples. Flight Attendants out of domicile should review Contract Section 9.K., Irregular Operationsand Section 12.R. for International Reassignments.
Flight Attendants serving Reserve status may want to download the Reserve Survival Guidefrom our website and carry it on your trips.
Our Contract includes specific direction on order of assignment, or reassignment as the case may be, to an open position. The order of assignment is delineated in Contract Section 9.I.domestically and 12.Q.internationally. This order of assignment includes six steps the company must complete before resorting to drafting for minimum staffing to cover a flight.
Finally, according to Section 9.I.7.,as a last resort the company has the ability to draft lineholders to maintain the operation of the flight - first to the most junior home Flight Attendant who can work the flight and still be legal for her/his next scheduled ID, (if time permits), then to the most junior home domestic Flight Attendant available and finally to any Flight Attendant legal for the flight (in inverse order of seniority, if possible). Flight Attendants serving reserve should take special note that the company may only utilize Section 10.C.13.d.to modify the reserve assignment procedures after fully complying with the Order of Assignment. (Section 9.I.and 12.Q.).
Check our website at www.unitedafa.org for more details on legalities, notification procedures and your resources available through the Commuter and Personal Emergency Policies. Throughout any irregularity or during daily operations, your Contract is your best resource and should always be your first reference.
Contractual Commuter/Emergency Policies
We encourage Flight Attendants to be aware of the possibility of irregular operations and review the Prudent Commuter Policyon page 249. We also encourage those in the affected area to review the Personal Emergency Policybeginning on page 250 of our Contract.
Reassignment Education
Lineholder Flight Attendants at their home domicile may be subject to Line Guarantee reassignments under Section 8.J.of our Contract. There is an AFActs on this subject in our website Contract section that includes explanation of the language and examples.
Flight Attendants on layover should review Contract Section 9.K., Irregular Operations.
Assignment and Reassignment Notification Parameters
Section 9 N.1.states that Flight Attendants must be notified by a face to face or telephone conversation concerning reassignment or a delayed flight. Text messages or other forms of notification are not acceptable. Also the scheduler needs to talk with each Flight Attendant about a reassignment. It is not the Flight Attendant in the purser position who is responsible to call each Flight Attendant on the FLTLOF. These notifications need to be handled by the scheduler.
For more information, please contact us at Local Council 8 - Chicago:
Association of Flight Attendant-CWA
Local Council 8 - Chicago
6250 N. River Road, Suite 4020
Chicago, IL 60018
Phone:
(773) 601-5040/5041/5042
(773) 601-5047 Grievance
(312) 961-5537 President (T.J. Sesko)
Email:
afaord@unitedafa.org
tjsesko@unitedafa.org